The concept of infusing liquids has been part of civilisation for many centuries, in particular is commonly associated with the making of the humble cup of tea where the infusing of tea leaves to produce a beverage dates back thousands of years. The flavouring of traditional alcoholic beverages to produce flavoured alcoholic drinks is gaining popularity amongst the brewers and consumers alike, no more so than in the making of beer.
The growing popularity of boutique or premium beers, poses new problems to the industry. Consumers are seeking new experiences and demanding an ever increasing range of tastes, flavours and aromas in their beer. At the same time, the palate has become better educated and able to distinguish subtle differences. Traditionally, the taste, flavour and aroma of beer was determined by the brewer during the brewing process and finalized prior to point of dispense. The consumer was unable to customize the taste, flavour and aroma of their beer at the point of dispensing. This disadvantage of dispensing beer is that the consumer is not able to infuse the beer with infusible flavouring substance at the point of dispensing into a receptacle for drinking. The problem is that infusing and flavouring beer is completed during the brewing process and not at the point of dispensing.
The current known ways of infusing and flavouring beer relate to the brewing processes used in manufacturer of beer prior to the point of dispensing are:                a) During the boil: Infusing wort in the wort kettle with hops, spices or fruit. Infusion is during the boiling of the wort prior to addition of yeast. Note that technically wort is not regarded as beer.        b) Hop Back: “Wort from the kettle is run into the hop back and strained by the slotted base . . . . Wort flow through the hop back is controlled by adjusting the valve on the positive side of the wort pump, which applies back pressure” (Quoted from page 221 Goldammer, T. (1999) The Brewers. handbook: The complete book to brewing beer. KVP Publishers: Clifton Press).        c) Hop Jack: “A device that is used by large breweries and that has features such as sparge, recirculation, underletting, and spent hops discharge . . . . The hop jack can also be used to enhance flavour and aroma by adding fresh, whole hops to the strainer basket” (Quoted from page 221 Goldammer, T. (1999) The Brewers. handbook: The complete book to brewing beer. KVP Publishers: Clifton Press.)        d) During Fermentation: Infusion with hops, spices or fruit during the fermentation process. Dry hopping is the process where hops is added to the primary fermenter, the maturation tank, conditioning tank or the casked beer aimed at increasing the aroma and hop characteristics of the beer.        